Patents by Inventor Kenichiroh Hara
Kenichiroh Hara has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
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Publication number: 20240124013Abstract: A monitoring system has a notifying unit capable of notifying a driver of information in a tactually recognizable manner, and a processor configured to determine whether a seat position of a driver's seat in which a driver is sitting is within a recommended range that represents an extent of the seat position where the driver sitting in the driver's seat can drive a vehicle, and notify the driver of a move request requiring to adjust the seat position within the recommended range through the notifying control unit based on the determination that the seat position is not within the recommended range.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 20, 2023Publication date: April 18, 2024Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Takeshi SAWADA, Jiro FUJINO, Kenichiroh HARA, Satoru KAWAKAMI
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Publication number: 20240067054Abstract: A position displacing device has a processor configured to set a recommendation range of the seat position, capable of displacing the seat position to a manual control position representing the seat position when a driver is operating a vehicle manually within a predetermined time, based on the manual control position, set an intermediate position between the manual control position and an automatic control position set within the recommendation range, and determine whether a level to which the driver is contributing to driving is equal to or below a predetermined reference threshold based on information that describes physical condition of the driver, wherein the seat position is displaced from the automatic control position to the intermediate position when the seat position is at the automatic control position and it is determined that the level to which the driver is contributing to driving is equal to or below the reference threshold.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 26, 2023Publication date: February 29, 2024Applicants: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA, AISIN CORPORATIONInventors: Takuhiro OMI, Udara Eshan MANAWADU, Hiroshi MORIMOTO, Kenta YAMADA, Kenichiroh HARA
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Patent number: 11834073Abstract: The autonomous driving system includes an internal vehicle camera, a vehicle detection device, and a processor configured to detect an angle of a facial direction or a line of sight of the driver, judge whether the driver has checked safety of the surroundings of the vehicle based on the angle, and control autonomous driving of the vehicle. The processor is configured to start a lane change of the vehicle when it is judged that the driver has checked the safety of the surroundings of the vehicle. The processor is configured to judge that the driver has checked the safety when a first condition has been satisfied if another vehicle has not been detected in a destination lane, and judge that the driver has checked the safety when a second condition more severe than the first condition has been satisfied if another vehicle has been detected in the destination lane.Type: GrantFiled: September 22, 2021Date of Patent: December 5, 2023Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Yutaro Tsugawa, Kenichiroh Hara, Kazuhiro Tomosue
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Patent number: 11807277Abstract: Provided is a driving assistance apparatus (a control unit (100)) for a vehicle capable of hands-off driving that lets a driver take his or her hands off the steering wheel. The driving assistance apparatus includes a processor (10) configured to determine, on the basis of sensor information indicating a state of the driver, whether or not the driver is in a state unsuitable for the surrounding monitoring of the vehicle during the hands-off driving, warn the driver through a notification device when it is determined that the driver is in a state unsuitable for the surrounding monitoring, and notify the driver, through the notification device, of a request for holding the steering wheel.Type: GrantFiled: July 17, 2020Date of Patent: November 7, 2023Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Kenichiroh Hara, Naruhisa Yoshida, Kazuhiro Tomosue, Shunichiroh Sawai, Naoki Nishimura, Takanori Kusakabe, Tomoyuki Yoshida, Shogo Konishi, Hirofumi Mori
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Patent number: 11738780Abstract: Provided is a driving assistance apparatus (a control unit (100)) for a vehicle capable of hands-off driving that lets a driver take his or her hands off the steering wheel. The driving assistance apparatus includes a processor (10) configured to determine, on the basis of sensor information indicating a state of the driver, whether or not the driver is in a state unsuitable for the surrounding monitoring of the vehicle during the hands-off driving, warn the driver through a notification device when it is determined that the driver is in a state unsuitable for the surrounding monitoring, and notify the driver, through the notification device, of a request for holding the steering wheel.Type: GrantFiled: July 17, 2020Date of Patent: August 29, 2023Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Kenichiroh Hara, Naruhisa Yoshida, Kazuhiro Tomosue, Shunichiroh Sawai, Naoki Nishimura, Takanori Kusakabe, Tomoyuki Yoshida, Shogo Konishi, Hirofumi Mori
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Patent number: 11741727Abstract: A driver monitoring system includes an image capturing device capturing a face of a driver of a vehicle to generate a facial image of the driver, and a processor configured to detect an angle of a facial orientation or a line of sight of the driver based on the facial image, and judge distracted driving by the driver based on the angle. The vehicle is provided with at least one indicator showing a presence of a surrounding vehicle in a rear lateral area of the vehicle. When the indicator is turned on, the processor is configured to ease a condition for judging distracted driving concerning a predetermined angular range when the driver looks at the indicator.Type: GrantFiled: June 15, 2021Date of Patent: August 29, 2023Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventor: Kenichiroh Hara
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Publication number: 20230227044Abstract: A driver monitor includes a processor configured to: detect the posture of a driver of a vehicle from an image of the interior of the vehicle generated by a camera provided on the vehicle, determine that the driver's condition is abnormal, when the detected posture satisfies an abnormality determining condition, detect an unusual sound made by the driver of the vehicle, based on a voice signal of the interior of the vehicle obtained by a microphone provided on the vehicle, and make the abnormality determining condition for the case where the unusual sound is detected less strict than an abnormality determining condition for the case where the unusual sound is not detected.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 5, 2023Publication date: July 20, 2023Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventor: Kenichiroh HARA
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Publication number: 20230226909Abstract: A driver monitoring device has a processor configured to acquire number of passengers that are occupying a vehicle when the vehicle has begun to travel, to determine whether or not a driver is sitting in a driving seat based on an image near the driving seat of the vehicle which has been taken by an imaging unit and, when it has been determined that the driver is not seated in the driving seat, to determine that the driver is not seated in the driving seat if number of seated people, representing number of people that are sitting as detected by a seating sensor situated in each seat other than the driving seat of the vehicle, matches the number of passengers, and to determine that the driver is seated in the driving seat if the number of seated people is one less than the number of passengers.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 18, 2022Publication date: July 20, 2023Inventor: Kenichiroh Hara
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Patent number: 11694449Abstract: A driver monitor includes a processor configured to detect the orientation and the position of the face of a driver of a vehicle from each of face images obtained by a camera for capturing the driver, update a reference direction of orientations or a reference position of the driver's face, based on orientations or positions of the driver's face detected from face images obtained in a preceding predetermined period, and detect putting a wearable object on or taking a wearable object off the driver's face in each face image. Upon detection of putting on or taking off the wearable object, the processor updates the reference direction or the reference position, based on only orientations or positions of the driver's face detected from face images obtained after the detection.Type: GrantFiled: June 28, 2021Date of Patent: July 4, 2023Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Kazuhiro Tomosue, Kenichiroh Hara
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Patent number: 11661108Abstract: The driving assistance device includes a movement detecting unit detecting an attitude changing movement for changing the attitude of a driver seat or a steering wheel of a vehicle capable of traveling in an automated driving mode in which a driver need not perform driving operations during traveling, a hold detecting unit detecting whether or not the steering wheel is held by the driver, and a hold requesting unit starting a holding request asking the driver to hold the steering wheel if the movement detecting unit has detected the attitude changing movement in the automated driving mode and if the hold detecting unit has not detected hold of the steering wheel.Type: GrantFiled: August 4, 2020Date of Patent: May 30, 2023Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventor: Kenichiroh Hara
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Patent number: 11651600Abstract: A driver monitor includes a processor configured to detect the orientation and the position of the face of a driver of a vehicle from each of face images obtained by a camera for capturing the driver, update a reference direction of orientations or a reference position of the driver's face, based on orientations or positions of the driver's face detected from face images obtained in a preceding predetermined period, and detect putting a wearable object on or taking a wearable object off the driver's face in each face image. Upon detection of putting on or taking off the wearable object, the processor updates the reference direction or the reference position, based on only orientations or positions of the driver's face detected from face images obtained after the detection.Type: GrantFiled: June 28, 2021Date of Patent: May 16, 2023Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Kazuhiro Tomosue, Kenichiroh Hara
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Patent number: 11485367Abstract: A driver monitoring system includes an automated driving controller that allows hands-off operation in which a driver releases hands from a steering wheel of a vehicle, and controls an automated steering driving in which the vehicle is automatically steered, and a request notification controller that notifies a hands-on request for prompting the driver of the vehicle to perform a hands-on operation to hold the steering wheel, or a surrounding confirmation request for prompting the driver to perform a surrounding confirmation operation to confirm a surrounding condition. During the automated steering driving, the request notification controller is configured to notify the hands-on request or the surrounding confirmation request again when an elapsed time from notification of the hands-on request or the surrounding confirmation request exceeds a criterion time.Type: GrantFiled: June 30, 2021Date of Patent: November 1, 2022Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Tomoyuki Yoshida, Takanori Kusakabe, Kenichiroh Hara, Naoki Nishimura, Shunichiroh Sawai
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Publication number: 20220309808Abstract: The driver monitoring device includes a processor configured to detect an opening/closing state of eyes of a driver of a vehicle based on a facial image in which a face of the driver is shown, judge whether the driver has fallen asleep based on the opening/closing state of the eyes, and judge whether the driver is talking. The processor is configured not to judge that the driver has fallen asleep while it is judged that the driver is talking.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 25, 2022Publication date: September 29, 2022Inventors: Shunichiro SAWAI, Kenichiroh HARA
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Patent number: 11373283Abstract: An object monitoring device 1 comprises an imaging device 2 capturing an image of a range in which a predetermined object should be present and generating an image, an object recognizing part 34 recognizing the object based on the image, a detecting part 35 detecting that the image is unclear, a storage part 31 storing detection information showing that it has been detected that the image is unclear, and a judging part 36 judging a cause for the object not being recognized when the object is not recognized based on the image. When a state occurs where the object is not recognized based on the image and it is not detected that the image is unclear, the judging part judges whether the cause is in the imaging device based on the detection information in a predetermined time period until the state occurs.Type: GrantFiled: May 21, 2019Date of Patent: June 28, 2022Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventor: Kenichiroh Hara
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Publication number: 20220089188Abstract: The autonomous driving system includes an internal vehicle camera, a vehicle detection device, and a processor configured to detect an angle of a facial direction or a line of sight of the driver, judge whether the driver has checked safety of the surroundings of the vehicle based on the angle, and control autonomous driving of the vehicle. The processor is configured to start a lane change of the vehicle when it is judged that the driver has checked the safety of the surroundings of the vehicle. The processor is configured to judge that the driver has checked the safety when a first condition has been satisfied if another vehicle has not been detected in a destination lane, and judge that the driver has checked the safety when a second condition more severe than the first condition has been satisfied if another vehicle has been detected in the destination lane.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 22, 2021Publication date: March 24, 2022Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Yutaro TSUGAWA, Kenichiroh HARA, Kazuhiro TOMOSUE
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Publication number: 20220004789Abstract: A driver monitor detects, based on face images obtained by capturing the face of a driver of a vehicle at different times, a color of the face of the driver and a face orientation angle of the driver in each face image; stores, when a face orientation angle detected from a first face image captured at a first time is included in a predetermined range of face orientation angles, the color detected from the first face image in a memory; and determines that the color of the face is abnormal, when a face orientation angle detected from a second face image captured at a second time later than the first time is included in the range of face orientation angles and a difference between the color detected from the second face image and the color stored in the memory exceeds a variance threshold.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 17, 2021Publication date: January 6, 2022Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventor: Kenichiroh HARA
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Publication number: 20220004790Abstract: A driver monitor includes a processor configured to detect the orientation and the position of the face of a driver of a vehicle from each of face images obtained by a camera for capturing the driver, update a reference direction of orientations or a reference position of the driver's face, based on orientations or positions of the driver's face detected from face images obtained in a preceding predetermined period, and detect putting a wearable object on or taking a wearable object off the driver's face in each face image. Upon detection of putting on or taking off the wearable object, the processor updates the reference direction or the reference position, based on only orientations or positions of the driver's face detected from face images obtained after the detection.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 28, 2021Publication date: January 6, 2022Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Kazuhiro TOMOSUE, Kenichiroh HARA
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Publication number: 20220001874Abstract: A driver monitoring system includes an automated driving controller that allows hands-off operation in which a driver releases hands from a steering wheel of a vehicle, and controls an automated steering driving in which the vehicle is automatically steered, and a request notification controller that notifies a hands-on request for prompting the driver of the vehicle to perform a hands-on operation to hold the steering wheel, or a surrounding confirmation request for prompting the driver to perform a surrounding confirmation operation to confirm a surrounding condition. During the automated steering driving, the request notification controller is configured to notify the hands-on request or the surrounding confirmation request again when an elapsed time from notification of the hands-on request or the surrounding confirmation request exceeds a criterion time.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 30, 2021Publication date: January 6, 2022Inventors: Tomoyuki YOSHIDA, Takanori KUSAKABE, Kenichiroh HARA, Naoki NISHIMURA, Shunichiroh SAWAI
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Publication number: 20210390322Abstract: A driver monitoring system includes an image capturing device capturing a face of a driver of a vehicle to generate a facial image of the driver, and a processor configured to detect an angle of a facial orientation or a line of sight of the driver based on the facial image, and judge distracted driving by the driver based on the angle. The vehicle is provided with at least one indicator showing a presence of a surrounding vehicle in a rear lateral area of the vehicle. When the indicator is turned on, the processor is configured to ease a condition for judging distracted driving concerning a predetermined angular range when the driver looks at the indicator.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 15, 2021Publication date: December 16, 2021Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventor: Kenichiroh HARA
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Patent number: 11048951Abstract: An occupant state recognition apparatus including an eyelid opening recognition unit configured to recognize an eyelid opening of a driver and maximum and minimum values of the eyelid opening; an eye state determination unit configured to determine that the eye is in an eye open state if the eyelid opening becomes greater than or equal to a preset threshold value, and to determine that the eye is in an eye closed state if the eyelid opening becomes less than the threshold value; and a threshold value resetting unit configured to reset the threshold value to a value between the maximum value and the minimum value of the eyelid opening, if the maximum value (or the minimum value) has not become greater (or less) than or equal to the threshold value for a predetermined period or a period corresponding to a predetermined number of times of eyelid opening and closing.Type: GrantFiled: June 28, 2019Date of Patent: June 29, 2021Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Naoki Nishimura, Shunichiroh Sawai, Kenichiroh Hara, Koichiro Yamauchi